Attention Spans Aren't Shrinking

> I certainly don’t want anyone to take this article to mean “no one actually has a problem with phones or social media”. It’s worth being mindful about what role these apps play in our lives, and if we’re having trouble with procrastination because of them, we can take steps to mitigate that. But there’s a big difference between a drop in our cognitive abilities and there being something distracting in our pocket.

First off, this feels like it rings true for me, personally. Second, I feel like there is a huge confirmation bias in the click-centric, hyper-commodified world that a lot of the sites mentioned in this article operate on. The studies confirm what we think we are seeing with no real depth or rigor to the study (especially in the case of the 'goldfish' attention span anecdote).

I'd argue a lot of the attention span debates end up revolving around a shift from linear chains of thought and consuming media in ways that arent just serial codices.

Jobs, media, even socially engaging with others is a lot more parallelized across multiple facets these days, an increased cognitive load. It doesnt mean attention spans have shrunk, attention is just being allocated differently.

This post is excellent, measured, sensible, long and comprehensive. Nobody will like it, because it doesn't say "social media is pushing an electronic drug through your phone that makes your brain fall apart, and that's why you like it so much". That's the popular and exciting meme.

But why is that? What's so unappealing about "looking at your phone is fine for your brain but is possibly not what you were supposed to be doing"? Be free, enjoy your stupid ticky-tocks.

Possibly it's a way to shift responsibility.